Hose and the like



July 28, 1942. w. E. BOOTON HOSE AND THE LIKE Original F iled March 19, 1941 s Sheets-Sheet 1 1 Y, MMW

July 28, 1942. w, oo-row 2,291,576 HOSE AND THE LIKE OI iginal Filed March 19, 1941 3 Sheets-Sheet '2 Fig.3.

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July 28, 1942. w. E. BOOTON HOSE AND THE LIKE Original Filed March 19, 1941 3 Sheff-Fleet 3 Fig.4.

Inven tor Wm E. m .a h d W Patented July 28, 1942 4 HOSE AND THE LIKE William Edward Booton, Leicester, England, as-

signor to W. E. Booton Limited, Leicester,

England Original application March 19, 1941, Serial No. 384,17 6. Divided and this application October 2, 1941, Serial No. 413,356. In Great Britain February 16, 1940 3 Claims.

This invention is for articles of footwear in the nature of hose, three-quarter hose, and half hose and articles of footwear (hereinafter termed hose for the sake of brevity) having heel pockets and toe pockets, and the invention is particularly but not exclusively concerned with ladies stockings of natural or artificial silk or a mixture thereof. An object of the invention is a hose or blank therefor which is knitted in the main by rotation, two courses at each revolution (whereby production is speeded up and the advantages of weft mixing are obtained), and having the toe pocket knitted on needles which produce the instep whereby the toe linking line is at the under side. This latter effect has hitherto been obtainable only by the use of complex mechanism in a circular knitting machine.

The invention includes the features set out in the appended claims and incorporated in the example now to be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a perspective View of a finished stocking according to this invention, and

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the stocking blank as it comes from the knitting machine,

Figure 3 is a view of a portion of the stocking as knitted,

Figure 4 shows the lower part of the stocking blank laid out fiat and considerably foreshortened, and also illustrates the arrangement of the butts on the needles.

Figure 5 is a diagram of needle butt lay-out in a circular knitting machine, for producing the stocking, having two knitting systems.

The stocking herein described and illustrated may be produced by the circular knitting machine forrning the subject of co-pending application Serial No. 384,176, filed March 19, 1941. (on which the present application is divided). This machine knits mainly by rotation; it has two opposed knitting systems (each including the appropriate thread feeders) indicated at l and 2 in Fig. 5, so that two courses are produced at each revolution. In order to facilitate the ensuing description of the construction of the stocking it may be pointed out that the needles ll (Fig. 4) have butts 12 of contrasting lengths and comprise a group of long butt instep needles L. B. flanked by groups of medium butt needles M. B. and groups of short butt heeling needles S. 3., while between the two groups S. B. a group of extra short butt fashioning needles S. B. X. is rotated. Adjacent groups of needles M. B. and

S. B. together form a group of splicing needles Referring primarily to Fig. 2 the stocking, with the exception of the toe pouch t and the heel pouch h, is knitted by rotation, two courses at each revolution, and during this rotational knitting except at the upper part of the stocking certain fashioning needles S. B. X. are held inactive so that at each revolution float threads 1 are laid across the gap left by the inactive needles. The stocking is knitted from the toe upwards and at the commencement roving courses a and a slack course b are knitted, by rotation, in both systems I and 2, and on all needles other than needles S. B. X. Needles S. N. are elevated to a loop-retaining level, and the machine then goes into reciprocation and makes the toe pouch t by narrowing and widening (the suture lines being indicated at ts) on the group of needles L. B.,

knitting at system 2 (system I being rendered inoperative). On the completion of the toe pouch, needles S. N. are re-introduced, rotational (spiral) knitting is resumed in both systems and a ring toe c is produced on needles S. N. and L. B. followed by the instep d and. foot bottom.

It is convenient here to explain that since in Fig. 4 the fore-shortening blank is shown as being laid out fiat the toe suture lines ts are shown as diverging until they meet spaced transverse lines ts which indicate the course of loops held on the raised needles S. N. This disposition of lines is and ts is in fact imaginary and the areas bounded by said lines are non-existent in the knitted blank. In other words a pair of lines is shown as divergent in Fig. 4 are coincident and a pair of lines ts shown as spaced apart lengthwise of the blank are also coincident, and to indicate this union or coincidence of said lines the aforesaid areas are shaded in Fig. 4. The same applies to the area bounded by the lines its and hs' referred to subsequently in the production of the heel.

The marginal parts of the foot bottom, at each side of the gap spanned by the floating threads I, are spliced as at e, the shape of the splicing being determined by control of the needles S. N. and being clearly shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 4. a That is to say the spliced areas e are narrowed upwards from the toe t and are subsequently widened upwards to the heel and above the heel are again reduced, and it will be understood that while splicing takes place in rotational knitting, floats f of the ground and the splicing threads are laid across the gap. In order to produce the heel needles L. B. and M. B. are held inactive and is reciprocated and a heel pouch h is produced at system I in two portions by narrowing and Widening upon the two groups of heeling needles S. B. separated by the gap left by inactive needles S. B. X., the threads fed at system I being floated chord-like across this gap at each reciprocation. The suture lines of the heel are indicated at hs. These heeling needles S. B. are opposite the instep needles L. B. and the heel pouch is a small one, being produced on less needles than is the toe pouch owing to the inactivity of needles M. B.

At the completion of the heel pouch the machine again goes into rotation to knit at both system and the leg is produced, still with the floating threads 1, splicing being terminated at the appropriate stage. Higher up the leg, fashioning is effected at g by introducing needles S. B. X. in activity at each side of the gap to decrease the latter and to widen the blank (this introduction being effected progressively at the ends of group S. B. X), and this fashioning is accompanied by the production of lines of mock fashion marks 2' (preferably formed by tuck stitches) which lines extend parallel with the fashioned edges g and therefore in the finished stocking are parallel with the leg seam hereinafter mentioned. After a further portion of knitting on a constant number of needles, the remaining fashioning needles S. B. X. are introduced to fashion the leg at 7 and to close the gap. This fashioning is accompanied again by lines of mock fashion marks k, parallel to the fashion edges, to simulate the thigh fashioning in a fully fashioned hose. At this stage, which is illustrated in Fig. 3, the complete circle of needles is active and thereafter the stocking blank is completed in uninterrupted tubular form. At least one reinforced course is produced at l, followed by a picot edge m and welt n. The blank having thus been knitted, the fashioning needles S. B. X. are pressed off, ready for the commencement of the next blank.

It is here to be pointed out that since during rotational knitting both systems I and 2 are employed, two courses are produced at each rotation and the rotary-knit parts are spirallyknit with a lead or pitch of two courses, alternate courses being formed of different threads since they are knitted in different knitting systems. Moreover since heel pocket is knitted on the needles S. B. the Wales thereof are continuous with those of the foot bottom and back of the leg, and since the toe pocket is knitted on needles L. B. the wales thereof are continuous with those of the instep and front of the leg.

A string of blanks having been completed, they are separated, and in each blank the floating threads 1 are cut away, and that length of the slack course I) which has been produced on the toe pouch needles L. B. is linked to those portions of said course which are included in the foot bottom (and has been produced on needles S. N.) so that the resultant toe linking line b extends across the foot bottom and not across the top of the toe as is customary. Next the edges of the blank are seamed together by a seam s Fig. 1 which therefore extends upwards from the toe linking line b Fig. 1, along the foot bottom, around the heel h, and up the leg. Preferably the seam s is continued as a mock seam upwards through the truly-tubular part of the stocking which lies above the termination of the fashioning y.

I claim:

1. A hose or the like, having a rotary-knit leg and foot wherein alternate courses are formed of different threads, heel and toe pockets constituted by narrowed and widened segments connected at suture lines, whereof the wales of the heel pocket are continuous with those of the back of the leg and foot bottom and the wales of the toe pocket are continuous with those of the front of the leg and the instep, and a toe pocket linkage line across the foot bottom, said hose also having a decreasing number of wales down the leg and a less number of wales in the foot than in the upper part of the leg, and having successive courses of each such segment formed of the same thread.

2. A hose or like blank, having a spirallyknitted leg and foot wherein the lead or pitch of the spiral is two courses and alternate courses are formed of different threads, a heel pocket and a toe pocket constituted by narrowed and widened segments connected at suture lines, the wales of which heel pocket are continuous with those of the foot bottom and back of the leg and the wales of which toe pocket are continuous with those of the instep and front of the leg, and at least one spiral course extending through the toe end of the foot bottom and the underneath part of the toe pocket, which blank has a fashioning gap extending down the back of the leg, through the heel pocket thereby dividing the latter into two parts each containing a suture line, and through the foot bottom including said spiral course but not into the toe pouch.

3. A blank, for an article of footwear of the kind produced in the main by rotary knitting and comprising a leg, foot, and heel and toe pockets, having the leg and foot of spiral-knit formation wherein the lead or pitch of the spiral is a plurality of courses and each course is formed of thread different from that of the next course, and a heel pocket and a toe pocket each constituted by parts connected at suture lines, the

- wales of which toe pocket are continuous with WILLIAM EDWARD BOOTON. 

